WELL, POSSIBLY.....

Just back from our weekly visit for Henry to see ace vet, Dave Cocker. Last week`s visit was depressing with Henry`s pulse a little weaker and the fluid building up around his chest once more. However, Dave`s change in the medication regime seems, over the past week, to have made Henry feel much better - even if his underlying heart condition may have worsened slightly.

We have reached the point where there is a choice to be made - although in the end, there`s no real choice to make at all. The choices are these. Henry can have pills which might hold the line so far as his dilated cardiomyopathy is concerned but in the process make him feel much worse, to the extent that he doesn`t really want to do much, go anywhere or get much enjoyment out of life. Or he can stay off the `heart pills` - the atenolol -and go on to stronger diuretics to get rid of the fluid around his heart, which he has done over the past week and has made him feel much better. He has been eating well, scampering around the village greens, playing with his friends and generally enjoying a much improved quality of life from that which he had previously.

So, we have gone for the quality of life option. It probably means that his life expectancy may not be as high as if he stayed on the atenolol but at least he will be able to enjoy what time he may have left with us. Dave can`t say how long Henry might have - it`s possible he could go on for some time or we could lose him quite suddenly - we know his heart condition will deteriorate; it`s just a question of when. So, we`ve made the choice for Henry which means he will be able to enjoy what time remains for him.....and I`m sure he agrees that we have made the right choice for him.

There`s a line of dialogue in Bryan Forbes` film, `International Velvet,` where Velvet Brown is strolling along Mothecombe beach pondering on a choice she has to make. In the end, she says quietly to herself, "Love. Love makes all the choices for us." So, no real choice to make for Henry then.